Germany: World Cup 2014 team guide

Germany are blessed with a wealth of attacking midfielders as they head to Brazil. Photograph: Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images

The players

Star man

This should be Marco Reus's tournament. The Borussia Dortmund player has been dubbed "Rolls-Reus" by Bild owing to his elegant and powerful performances as an attacking midfielder or as a false nine. Also excellent from set pieces, Reus has only one problem as a footballer: "I hate heading. I'm scared of it."

One for the Premier League

A number of the Germany squad have already been linked with moves to England, with Benedikt Höwedes and Julian Draxler the subjects of interest from Arsenal while Manchester United have admired Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos and Mats Hummels.

The bad boy

Bad boys are out of fashion in Germany, along with moustaches sadly, but Dortmund's Kevin Grosskreutz allegedly lobbed a doner kebab at someone in a Cologne street recently. The victim complained to the police that he was left with "burning eyes" as a result of the unwanted application of chilli sauce; the player insisted he had been the subject of nasty chanting, and that he only threw the kebab on to the floor. "This situation isn't ideal," he deadpanned.

The weakest link

Alice-band afficionado Marcel "Schmelle" Schmelzer looks like he's just wandered in from attending a Justin Bieber concert and the Dortmund left-back is most prone to be off-key on the pitch, too.

The coach

Joachim "Jogi" Löw is a suave, black-clad, tactically-astute Bryan Ferry tribute act who has just lost his driving licence for six months after racking up 18 points for speeding: "I know I need to restrain myself." The colour and cut of his barnet have remained stoically unchanged since he took over from Jürgen Klinsmann in 2004. The 54-year-old is as smooth as a bratwurst skin – a contract to promote hand cream helps. Löw's style has aroused suspicion that he's too much of an aesthete to deliver a trophy. The 18-year trophy drought, stretching back to Euro 96, is the longest since the second world war.

Tactics

Germany play an aesthetically pleasing but slightly fragile 4-2-3-1 that comes with a Barcelona button: Löw can switch veteran striker Miroslav Klose for a false nine (Mario Götze or Reus) if need be. No Germany team have had this many fine attacking midfielders and wide players at their disposal, but there is also lot of good, old-fashioned angst around the left-back spot and central midfield, where key players are either out of form (Bastian Schweinsteiger), just back from injury (Sami Khedira) or ruled out entirely (Ilkay Gündogan).

Grudge match

Only Italy (19) have featured in more World Cups than (West) Germany (17)but meetings with Holland used to bring out the worst in both teams – you'll recall Frank Rijkaard applying the wrong kind of hair conditioner to Rudi Völler's mullet in 1990 – but relations have become more cordial now that Germany are playing beautiful, unsuccessful football. Italy are the No1 angstgegner (bogey team), having never been beaten in a major tournament.

Holed up

Campo Bahia, in the eastern province of the same name, is a luxury beach resort completed in April by constructors from Munich. It's designed to be "optimal" for the team – "the whole place has been laid out so as to foster a team spirit," says the man in charge – with a German agronomist flown in to look after the training pitches.